Climate Change- freak out video!

As usually- have been busy with various projects on green carpet. Since I am also looking for a job now and starting university my days are becoming really packed.
About the uni- I have been accepted and already received my boxes of studying materials, I am really super-excited! I am now officially a student at University of London, SOAS, Centre for Development, Environment and Politics. My program- MSc in Sustainable Development. Wish me luck and I will share my progress as much as I can here with you on green carpet.

Last two days I've been starting a paper on Climate Change, covering general facts, scenarios, risks, factors,  turning then to Latvia and it's Climate Change adaptation politics. Looking for various resources, I found a fantastic video that I wanted to share with everyone. It's really great to explain, what's going on in quite a simple manner.

by Leo Murray.

Enjoy watching!

Juicemaster's detox

Happy and green New Year all!
We here have been very busy on green carpet during the festive season making gifts and celebrating. As the holiday spirit is slowly fading away, new resolutions and initiatives always kicks in. I'm not going to make a list of my hundred resolutions for another year that has come. Instead, I just wanted to share my inner initiative that I have already fulfilled!

After lot's of nice food on tables during winter solstice celebrations I really, really felt like having a detox again. I haven't had a propper one since.. well, since pre-pregnancy.. I used to do the moonphase based detox days, but this time I opted for something a bit longer- a three day juice only detox.

Many thanks to Juicemaster! Recipes were really tasty and well planned.
A comment on how we (yes, my husband participates) feel- first day was great, day two as well despite the fact that I had a friend over and I was cooking both for her and our kids. Felt a little light headed, but really nice, literally felt everything unnecessary leaving my body.
Third day, however, was a bit hard already- Emily's porrige was really tempting. It really was the worst. I But saw it through! And was looking for the next day when I would be able to eat something solid again..

Today is this next day and with yesterday's crisis over I made a wonderful juice this morning adding some thicker ingridients to juicemaster suggested- some more avocado, half of the little banana, few spoons yogurt and handful of soaked almonds and blended it all together. And I continued to feel absolutely wonderful!
If the weekend with grandmom's birthday was not coming up and I was not a little concerned about milk (still breastfeeding), I would probably continue. My husband does, hurray to him! :))

I planned my next meals as salad for lunch, yogurt with some fruit for linner (between lunch and dinner), and a light mixed veggie mash for dinner. Now I have just finished my lunch. Actually I haven't- I ate only half of it and proved my intuition to be right when it tried to convince me that steamed veggies are easier to digest than fresh celery etc. I'll listen to myself next time.

The only thing today I really enjoy a lot is having as many cups of tea as I want! I'm no caffeine addict, I don't really drink more black or green tea than maybe a cup a day. But my lovely herbal teas! Oh, so good to have them back.

A comment on recipes- I'm not sure if that would be fare or legal to publish the recipes here, but since you can download the shopping list for the 3day detox at http://www.juicemaster.com/ I don't see why I couldn't have a word on it.

There's also a low fat no additives yogurt on the list that's missing. And we skipped the mineral water and used tap instead. We managed to have all carrots, beetroots and berries from our own garden, all apples were local and you could see and trust they were not toxic since worms have been eating them too. We found part of the veggies and lemons organic.. but the rest unfortunately- available only conventional produce.
I also think that the fruits and veggies in the recipes are more convenient for other locations than Latvia. However, I believe I'll mix these in future with locally more available things!

Good luck if you decide to take on the three day juice detox challenge, I can promise- it is worth it!

Winter Solstice and gift preparations- a little insight

I love the Winter Solstice with it's traditional songs, decorations. I also like the Christmas traditions. So here on green carpet we enjoy all of them mixed together as usual.
Last year I shared some Advent decorations, everybody knows how a Christmas tree looks like. So this time I decided to share some of Latvian traditional decorations, we call them "Puzuri":

These probably are the most eco-friendly seasonal decorations since only natural materials are used- canes, wool and some bird feathers or dried herbs. I remember when we used to make them with my mom when we were kids. We would do little ones, and she would create a wonderful large piece.. This year we revived this tradition and made them together again.

Our gifts as well were all planned to be handmade by ourselves with few additions of either eco-friendly items or experiences instead of things people wouldn't need.

Gifts we made mostly were:

• selection of specialty jams and jellies- chilly, jalapeno, garlic & lime, red currant spice jam, rhubarb & ginger marmalade etc. 
• selection of home made liquors- blueberry, red currant, raspberry liquors that we did together with my brother already during the summer
• selection of home made sweets and confectionery- various chocolate truffles with walnuts, almonds, dried cherries and ginger, dried pineapples dipped in chocolate, green tea chocolate truffles, caramelized almonds etc. 

• selection of home made cookies and ginger breads, served on a large plate made as Christmas deco plate with decoupage technique by myself. 

The last one actually was a double gain idea. I had a set of soup and dinner plates that were showing wear quite a lot already. And they were not looking that nice in my kitchen anymore. So I decided to use my decoupage skills and turn them into nice Christmas themed decorative plates to give as gifts, full of edible goodies.

Unfortunately I was so busy that I completely forgot to make pictures of all 9 unique plates I made.. Here's just one that I gave to my dad (I have easy access to it now). 

Many of the sweets and other gifts were also packaged into up-cycled boxes with decoupage technique. It is a truly wonderful skill to use in making presents. I even managed to make my liquor bottles all Seasonal and good looking! 

I still continue reusing many boxes, packages, bottles and other everyday pieces into nice presents or interior elements with decoupage! 

What gifts did you make this year? 

Rugs and dusters

I spoke about some good deeds to make my life, home and country a greener place.
Well, one of such things that I've done recently is change from paper towels to rugs for 100% finally.
Often you really couldn't  find a paper towel here on green carpet since I neglect cleaning with such disposables that in addition soak in so little water and can clean only very limited surfaces. At least comparing to my rugs now!
My rugs and dusters are torn or cut from old bed linen or table cloths that my grandma gave me because they were unwashably stained or worn out with holes. Oh, linen cloths are the very best to clean up all liquids . Since we are not using diapers at home and sometimes elimination communication is not really working that well on busy moments, these rugs are gold worth.

And, of course, they are good on every thing else you need to clean- dusty places, bathroom sinks, floors, juice splashes or runny noses. Just take a clean one from the rug-bowl and put it in the bin afterwards. Once the bin is full, I wash them, hang them to dry and they're good to use again. And again. And again. Something you really can't say about paper towels.
Have you already switched to cloth rugs?

Baby cocoons

Although here on green carpet we support baby-wearing in a sling and just simple carrying in arms a lot, there are times when we also want to put our baby to sleep in bed or have a ride in a car.
What comes in very handy is baby cocoon.
My little princess spent a lot of her first autumn and winter day sleeping and car travels in this lovely cocoon. No need to dress her much for travel. No problems with a blanket that falls off when you put the baby in bed after cradling her in your arms. And no kicked off blankets.

Of course, this lovely piece with a hat is knitted by my own loving hands.

I enjoyed using it so much, that I also made this warming present when my cousins baby boy was born.









I have my fingers itching already to make another one for one of my best friends when her little one arrives!
Try knitting one yourself, it's super-simple!

One good deed from me to make Latvia greenest country in the world.

It's been a while ago when I posted some comments on the Yale Uni's Environmental Performance Index, where Latvia scored as high as 2nd in the world and No1 in Trend EPI. After such news environmental NGO's, some policy makers and individuals in society had made their mind to turn Latvia to be the No1 Greenest country in the world. I proudly share that goal and passion.

I've been using organic cosmetics and eco-friendly household cleaning products for quite long time already. I figure- it's a good time to take a step further. Why not withdraw the shipping costs? And I mean not only my wallet, but the Earth as well. Why not support local economy? It is my country in the end that needs its economy boosted.



In Latvia we have several wonderful organic cosmetics producers, some of which have made it out in the world with great success like Madara. Madara is also my favorite Latvian cosmetics producer, quality is wonderful and I love the smell of natural flowers and plants it has.. a little bitter one, just like the flower Madara. Their products are also gender unrelated, deo is good for both me and my husband.  Additional green bonus of Madara is that they would take back the empty packaging and give you a discount for that!
I already bought the first few things I needed- deo and eye cream from them, and trying out some day and night creams and baby oil, which felt amazing.

There are several more Latvian organic cosmetics brands that I still haven't tested. By I aim to. Once I ran out of any of the things in my bathroom- the next one I'm buying is going to be definitely produced right here, in Latvia.
However, if you want to try some before me, here are a couple I'm going to look at when I next need something- Kiwi natural cosmetics and Bio2You biological sea buckthorn cosmetics.

The same plan refers to household cleaning products. No need to buy Ecover, Sonnet, Tri-bio and Frosch that until now have been 'usual suspects' in my kitchen and bathroom. Latvian manufacturers have had good ingredients list for quite a while, but now they have reached next level- Eco-certification. Eco Seal for nature is the next laundry detergent and dish washing liquid I'm trying out!


Buying organic and eco friendly is good. But keep in mind that being conscious consumer means also really thinking through whether you really need the product. Many things can be replaced with even more 'natural' things.



In cosmetics area my favorite is hemp oil, natural, organic, local and comes in ceramic bottle with a cork on top. It's clean, great both for cooking and as body oil for me and the baby. I've written about it here.
Olive oil and other edible oils offer similar uses. You don't really need to buy a body lotion in plastic bottles with additional ingredients, do you? Add them yourself if really want to- essential oils, flower essences.. your call!
And nothing is better on your skin than things that you would actually eat- masks and scrubs should be only made in your kitchen..

In cleaning area I have found that nothing works better than simple baking soda and vinegar. Baking soda cleans my bathroom and kitchen as no chemical, but it's kind to surfaces and my skin, and does not smell at all. If you put it in the drains, add a bit of vinegar, close them and after 10minutes pour some boiling water in, they're free from potential clogging. Your house is clean. And your family is safe and healthy. So, remember, no need to buy another bathroom cleaner, just have soda on hand!

So- good deeds to make Latvia greenest country in the world- buy local organic cosmetics, local household cleaning products. And where you can, replace manufactured formulas with daily kitchen stuff. Locally produced and organic preferably.

Green travelling for us and a baby- vintage bicycles

Using a sling to go around with my baby has been a common practice on green carpet for quite a while now. We just discovered an upgrade for that.

On my husbands birthday, me, my family and his mom gave him a present- a bicycle by his choice. I suggested we go for retro (vintage) bikes. And we both found great ones that we fell in love with!

We didn't want our little one to miss this fantastic feeling of a warm, sunny day, wind blowing gently as you cycle through the nearby forest to see the seaside..

So we used our lovely organic cotton/hemp sling and off we went!

Try it out and enjoy green travelling with a baby!